Edinburgh Morning News 19/4

Dougie Berwick produced a grandstand style finish that swept him to a second title triumph in the gents Singles Championship at East Lothian IBC with the 58 year old triggering the victory salute with a 21-9 win over Mark Johnston in 17-ends.

Both finalists are stalwart figures in the East Lothian premier league team that recently captured the national headlines as Scottish Cup winners and their head to head for the domestic singles title attracted a large crowd to The Alex Marshall Arena. The opening exchanges were nip and tuck with the master scoreboard showing a 7-7 deadlock after eight ends, and entering the 12th the battle for supremacy was still being hard fought with Berwick marginally in front at10-9. Berwick carded what turned out to be a magic double that pushed him onto a three shot lead, 12-9, and sparked an explosive continuation of 2, 1, 3, 2, 1 to hit 21 in quite magnificent fashion. The jubilant 2016 champion was adding to his title triumph of 2012 and denying his opponent a third capture of the coveted crown with Johnston previously ruling as the stadium king pin in 2001 and 2010.

The support finals to the top of the bill action included the clash between Joe Mower and Ewan Fallen fighting it out for The Junior Singles title and it turned out to be a real firecracker that lasted 23-ends and went right down to the wire. Both finalists had high profile current-season external form to their credit with Mower reigning as the Word Under 25 Singles champion and Fallen as the Scottish Champion, and it was Fallen that made the first impression. Fallen made a blitz start to lead the recent richly talented Welsh Import 10-1 after five ends; but Mower flashed a warning signal in the shape of a 2, 3, 3 fight back that fired him into contention at 10-9 down. Fallen answered that testing pressure with an advancement to 15-11 however Mower showed the spirit of a dragon to produce a purple patch run of 2, 1, 1, 2 that transformed the picture 17-15 in his favour. Mower was tested at 17-16 and 18-17 then at 20-19 he faced game against him but conjured up a magical wonder-bowl to pick up the jack and card the title winning single. “Joe was sinking out of sight at 10-1 down but kept himself afloat with a double then whisked the mat right up to the pin in a game-changing tactic that brought him a 3, 3 reward and a massive lift in confidence”, reflected an observer.

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